Sunday, June 01, 2008

Book review: The Age of Lincoln, Orville Vernon Burton

This book surprised me. I thought it would be a book on Lincoln himself, but he plays a rather marginal role as a person. It's more his policies and philosophy than the man himself that are the focus of the story.

The book begins well before the Civil War, and even well before Lincoln himself was born, and follows the war through its conclusion, Lincoln's assassination and up through Reconstruction and its eventual failure.

It's a detailed and unwavering, unapologetic look at the changes in the mindset of Americans, North and South. A good read, worthwhile for anyone interested in the period, or interested in learning how we went from an agrarian society to a service society.